President Barack Obama’s dream of being a historically transformational figure like Franklin D. Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan may be slipping from his grasp.

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Obama’s quest to usher in a new liberal era — one with major new policies and a growing Democratic voter majority punctuating a shift away from the conservative era that Reagan ushered in — is in trouble and may be disintegrating.

That is to say, I agree with the disintegrating/slipping from his grasp part, but not with the dream/quest part. I just do not see any evidence that this kind of transformation was ever Obama’s goal. Sure, during the campaign he said it was his goal because that was what everyone wanted to hear, but his lukewarm words and actions since then have been those of a man determined to work within the status quo.

If transformation really is Obama’s dream, then he’s been remarkably half-assed about fighting for it.